Patriots preparing for old foe Mathis

Although the uniforms will be the same, this won't quite feel like a rematch of old postseason foes.

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By
Tim Britton
Posted Jan. 6, 2014 @ 1:39 pm

Although the uniforms will be the same, this won't quite feel like a rematch of old postseason foes.

The teams haven't met in seven Januarys. While the Patriots boast some stability with head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady, this is a fundamentally different Colts team that comes to Gillette Stadium Saturday night. Head coach Chuck Pagano is in his second year, as is QB Andrew Luck.

There are only four holdovers from that 2006 Colts team that won the Super Bowl, and Reggie Wayne is out for the season. But one of those mainstays is in the midst of a career season: Robert Mathis.

At 32, Mathis became the second-oldest player to ever lead the NFL in sacks with his career-high 19.5 this past season -- eight more than he'd ever had before.

"He seems to be getting increasingly better as the years go on, which as an offensive coach, you tend to hope it goes the other direction," offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said. "We've certainly seen every play that they've had on defense this year, and he's as disruptive a player on the edge as we have played or will play. He's got great speed and acceleration. He certainly does a great job of turning the corner. He is very rarely on the ground and his motor, his effort are incredible."

Mathis used to team with Dwight Freeney on the edge; now, he's producing as much himself as the duo used to combined. That's in part because he can come off either edge now.

"They will flip him. You cannot guarantee that you're going to get him in one specific spot during the course of the game," said McDaniels. "That forces both tackles to prepare and be ready to block him at any time because you just never know. They do a good job of blitzing enough to make sure that you can't just stand there and help on him all day."

"He ends up on a lot of different guys," head coach Bill Belichick said. "Those tackles are going to see a lot of him, but everybody has to be ready, too."